The Bertha Benz Memorial Route is a German tourist and theme route in Baden-Württemberg and member of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It opened in 2008 and follows the tracks of the world's first long distance road trip by a vehicle powered with an internal combustion engine, in 1888.
Bertha Benz's husband, Carl Benz, patented the first automobile designed to produce its own power in January 1886 (Reichspatent Nr. 37435).[1][2]
In early August 1888,[3] without her husband's knowledge, Bertha Benz, with her sons Richard (aged 14) and Eugen (aged 15), drove in Benz's newly constructed Patent Motorwagen No. 3 automobile, from Mannheim to her own birthplace, Pforzheim, becoming the first person to drive an automobile powered with an internal combustion engine over more than a very short distance.[4] The distance was about 104 km (65 mi). Distances driven before this historic trip were short, being merely trials with mechanical assistants.[5][6]
Although the ostensible purpose of the trip was to visit her mother,[7] Bertha Benz also had another motive: to show her husband – who had failed to consider marketing his invention adequately – that the automobile would become a financial success once it was shown to be useful to the general public.[8]
The town pharmacy in Wiesloch, referred to as the "First filling station in the world", with a monument dedicated to her historic first car trip on the rightOn the way, she solved numerous problems. She had to find Ligroin, a solvent available only at dispensing chemists' shops, to use as fuel.[9] Thus the still existing Stadt-Apotheke (Town Pharmacy) in Wiesloch, some kilometres south of Heidelberg, became the world's first filling station.[10] A blacksmith had to help mend a chain in Bruchsal.[11] Brake linings were replaced in Bauschlott/Neulingen north of Pforzheim.[12] And Benz had to use a long, straight hatpin to clean a fuel pipe which had become blocked, and a garter to insulate a wire.[13]
Benz and her sons left Mannheim around dawn and reached Pforzheim somewhat after dusk, notifying Karl of their successful journey by telegram.[14] They drove back to Mannheim three days later, by a different route.
Along the way, several people were frightened by the automobile and the novel trip received a great deal of publicity – as she had intended.[15] The drive was very helpful for Karl Benz, as he was able to introduce several improvements after his wife reported everything that had happened along the way – and she made important suggestions, such as the introduction of an additional gear for climbing hills.[16]
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